Light bulb sorter and conveyor

ABSTRACT

A sorting and conveying machine for moving glass light bulb shapes upwardly out of a bin and away therefrom to a work station or the like utilizes a continuous conveyor belt positioned at a slight angle from vertical and having a plurality of spaced fingers projecting therefrom arranged to move upwardly through the light bulb shapes in the bin and engage individual light bulb shapes and move them upwardly and out of the bin where they are positioned on a Y-shaped trough defined by a pair of spaced cross sectionally round conveyor belts moving transversely with respect to said machine.

United States Patent Fabian et al. Jan. 1, 1974 LIGHT BULB SORTER AND CONVEYOR 3,049,216 8/1962 Campbell 198/33 AA [75] In ent rs: mas R. abian, ubbard; James 2,810,467 lO/l 957 Bogaty l98/47 X R. Hanek, Youngstown, both of Ohio Primary Examiner-Edward A. Sroka Atlorney-Webster B. Harpman [73] Assignee: Dynamic Systems Inc., Youngstown,

Ohm 57] ABSTRACT [22] May 1972 A sorting and conveying machine for moving glass [21] Appl. No.: 256,474 light bulb shapes upwardly out of a bin and away therefrom to a work station or the like utilizes a con- 52 U.S. cl. 198/33 AA f psiticfned a angle [51 Int. Cl. 865g 47/24 Velma and havng a pluralty Spaced fingers 581 Field 0! Search l98/33 AA 44 47-48 l Winged 9 ."f 198/53 R 55 i the llght bulb shapes m the bln and engage lndlvldual light bulb shapes and move them upwardly and out of [56] References Cited the bkilndvl hergi l:hey are positioneli on a Y-shapleld troug e me y a pan 0 space cross sectlona y UNITED STATES PATENTS round conveyor belts moving transversely with respect 396,467 H1889 Coleman 221/165 to aid machine 2,649,2l4 8/1953 Kirby 198/33 AA X 3,468,407 9/l969 Furst 198/53 R 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures LIGHT BULB SORTER AND CONVEYOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the manufacture of electric light bulbs and more particularly to a light bulb sorter and conveyor that will pick up individual light bulb blanks from a bin and position them in upright position on a conveyor capable of moving them to a work station such as a machine that will cut off the tubular ends of the light bulb blanks and insert thefilament carrying portion of the light bulb with its metal socket and cement the same thereto.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior structures of this type are represented by such devices as the disclosure of US. Pat. No. 3,326,350 of June, 1967 wherein an air actuated pickup device picks up the light bulb blanks and deposits them between a pair of parallel belts. Still other US. Pat. Nos. 2,609,912 of September, 1952; 2,761,543 of September, 1956; 3,392,815 of July, 1968 and 3,474,891 of October, 1969 show various means of moving light bulb blanks from a bin. Two of these patents show an elevator inclined away from the supply bin and incapable of sorting light bulb blanks and therefore limited to a conveying action. One of these patents, US. Pat. No. 2,761,543 utilizes a narrow conveyor with projecting vertically standing fingers which pick up the bulb blanks by engaging their open ends.

This invention eliminates the problems experienced with the earlier devices and provides a simple and sure means of sorting and picking up individual light bulb blanks, lifting them out of a bin containing many such blanks and depositing them in desired upright position on a conveyor capable of moving them in such position to a work station.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A light bulb blank sorter and conveyor includes a bin having means for moving light bulb blanks to one end thereof and a conveyor positioned upwardly therethrough and angled thereover and including spaced groups of projecting fingers arranged to hold a single light bulb blank whereby the same is removed from the mass of blanks in the bin by lifting the same therefrom and depositing it on a transversely moving conveyor in an upright position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In its simplest form the light bulb sorter and conveyor of this invention comprises a bin having side walls and 11 and an end wall 12. The end of the bin opposed to the end wall 12 is closed by a substantially vertically positioned slat type conveyor belt 13 including interconnecting links 14 which carry a plurality of perpendicular guards 15 which form closures between the ends of the side walls 10 and II and the slat conveyor belt 13. The bottom of the bin defined by the side walls 10 and 11 and the end wall 12 and the slat conveyor 13 is partially formed by a secondary conveyor 16 so that light bulb blanks positioned in the bin will be moved toward the slat conveyor 13. The secondary conveyor 16 terminates in spaced relation to the slat conveyor belt 13 and the intermediate area forming the bottom of the bin is formed of a plurality of spaced bars 17. The slat belt conveyor 13 has groups of projecting fingers 18 positioned thereon in spaced and staggered relation as may best be seen by referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

In FIG. 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that the groups of fingers 18 are spaced vertically with respect to one another and in FIG. 3 of the drawings it will be seen that the same groups of fingers 18 are spaced transversely with respect to one another and that they are offset with respect to a common transverse line. The spacing between the groups of fingers 18 is greater than the overall length of a light bulb blank such as may be seen in broken line illustration in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 of the drawings wherein the light bulb blank is indicated by the letter B.

A motor and speed reducer gear combination unit 19 is mounted beneath the bin formed by the side walls 10 and 11 and pulleys on the same provide for the reception of driving belts 20 and 21 which are arrangedto convey motion to the slat conveyor belt 13 and the secondary conveyor 16 heretofore referred to.

By referring now to FIG. I of the drawings, it will be seen that light bulb blanks positioned in the bin of the device of the invention will be moved by the conveyor 16 toward the spaced bars 17 and thus brought into position adjacent the slat belt conveyor 13 where the plurality of groups of fingers 18 will pick up one light bulb blank at a time and move it upwardly and over the top of the vertical conveyor and into a delivery chute 22. The light bulb blanks will then move from the chute 22 by gravity into a Y-shaped transversely extending third conveyor having oppositely disposed outwardly extending guards 23 positioned in spaced relation on either side of a pair of horizontally disposed transversely extending cross sectionally round conveyor belts 24. The light bulb blanks will drop downwardly between the belts 24 which will thus position the same in upright position and move them transversely and away from the light bulb sorting and conveying device of the invention to a work station where for example the ends of the light bulb blanks may be cut off and the metal caps including the filament assemblies may be assembled to the light bulb blanks so as to complete the formation of the light bulbs as will occur to those skilled in the art.

As seen in FIG. 1 of the drawings, a separate drive motor 25 is provided for imparting motion to the drive belt 24 of the third conveyor.

Be referring now to FIG. 4 of the drawings, it will be seen that when the fingers 18 moving upwardly by the slat conveyor belt 13 rise upwardly through the grill formed by the bars 17, they will pick up a light bulb blank B either in vertical position as shown in FIG. 4 or in horizontal position as shown in FIG. 5 and that in either event only one light bulb blank will be picked up by one group of the fingers l8 and that it will then be moved upwardly along with other light bulbs picked up by other groups of the fingers l8 and over the top of the slat conveyor belt 13 and onto the chute 22 as heretofore described. The device will be seen to be capable of operating efficiently with a few or with a large number of light bulb blanks in the bin formed by the side walls 10 and 11 and the end wall 12, etc. as the several moving portions of the machine as hereinbefore described cooperate in moving the light bulb blanks to proper pick up position and the groups of fingers 18 pick them up one at a time and deliver them to the third conveyor defined by the belts 24 where they are upended and positioned properly for delivery to the next machine in the light bulb manufacturing facility.

It will be observed that the angular positioning of the substantially vertically arranged slat conveyor belt 13 and the angular positioning of the groups of fingers 18 thereon are critical with respect to the ability of the machine to properly sort and individually pick up the light bulb blank B. It has been determined that the most advantageous angle of the slat conveyor belt 13 is approximately 10 from vertical as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings and that the angle of the groups of fingers 18 should be approximately 15 from a perpendicular line with respect to the plane of the slat conveyor belt 13. The fingers 18 are illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings as seen positioned on approximately that angle and it will be observed that the upper most surfaces of the fingers 18 are slightly inclined toward the slat conveyor belt 13. Such formation and positioning of the fingers l8 insures the sorting and picking up of individual light bulb blanks B either in vertical position as seen in FIG. 4 or in horizontal position as also seen in FIG. 5 of the drawings.

It will thus be seen that a light bulb sorting and conveying machine has been disclosed which will operate efficiently for its intended purpose and having thus described our invention what we claim is:

We claim:

l. A machine for sorting and conveying glass light bulb blanks, each having two different known diameters and a known length and including a bin for said blanks, slots in said bin, an upwardly acting conveyor in said bin including a flexible belt, a plurality of groups of three fingers each on said belt and projecting into said bin therefrom in registry with said slots, each of said groups of projecting fingers being spaced with respect to other of said groups of projecting fingers a distance greater than the known length of said glass bulb blanks and each pair of said projecting fingers of each group being within an area smaller than the largest known diameter of said light bulb blanks, means for receiving said glass light bulb blanks from said upwardly acting conveyor arranged to move said glass light bulb blanks away from said sorting and conveying machine.

2. The light bulb sorting and conveying machine of claim 1 and wherein said upwardly acting conveyor is positioned at an angle from vertical with the upper portion thereof overlying a portion of said bin from which said light bulb blanks are removed.

3. The light bulb sorting and conveying machine of claim 2 and wherein the fingers are positioned at an angle with respect to the upward acting conveyor. 

1. A machine for sorting and conveying glass light bulb blanks, each having two different known diameters and a known length and including a bin for said blanks, slots in said bin, an upwardly acting conveyor in said bin including a flexible belt, a plurality of groups of three fingers each on said belt and projecting into said bin therefrom in registry with said slots, each of said groups of projecting fingers being spaced with respect to other of said groups of projecting fingers a distance greater than the known length of said glass bulb blanks and each pair of said projecting fingers of each group being within an area smaller than the largest known diameter of said light bulb blanks, means for receiving said glass light bulb blanks from said upwardly acting conveyor arranged to move said glass light bulb blanks away from said sorting and conveying machine.
 2. The light bulb sorting and conveying machine of claim 1 and wherein said upwardly acting conveyor is positioned at an angle from vertical with the upper portion thereof overlying a portion of said bin from which said light bulb blanks are removed.
 3. The light bulb sorting and conveying machine of claim 2 and wherein the fingers are positioned at an angle with respect to the upward acting conveyor. 